Pipe-supporting clamp



27 k w 1,643,688 Sept 927 E. q. WILSON I PIPE SUBPO'RTING CLAMP Filed odt. 22, 1924' 2 ets-Sheet 1 Sept. 27 1927. E. C. WILSQN PIPE SUPPORTING CLAMP Filed Oct. 22, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 27, 1927,

1 UNITED STA'E'STPATENT OFFICE.

ELIHU C. WILSON, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

PIPE-SUPPORTING CLAMP.

Application filed October 22, 1924. Serial No. 745,167.

This invention relates to tools for hanlling well pipe'and casing, and is more particularly concerned with devices for suspending or supporting drill pipes and casing from rotary tables and the like. vWhile not so limited in its application, I will describe the invention as used in'connection with the suspension of drill stem during well drilling operations as carried on by the rotary method. From this description it will be apparent to those skilled -in the art, how the device may be em loyed in other situations.

The device is a apted to be supported on v a rotary table, or other type of supporting platform, and "to be moved bodily thereover into and out of association with the drill pipe. Generally described, the device is in the nature of hingedly joined members having upwardly facing shoulders, said members, when the device is operatively associated with the drill pipe, being adapted to be clamped together about the pipe with'their upwardly facing shoulders in supporting engagement with downwardly facing pipe shoulders! Since the. device is adapted to be slid over the table to,and from operative association.

with thepipe, and to function solely as pipe supporting means rather than being used alternately as a pipe, support and elevator (as is true. of devices used in connection with the well known two-elevatorcsystem) it is necessary that there be two downwardly facingand vertically spaced shoulders on the pipe. The upper shoulder is to take the hoisting elevator and the lower shoulder takes the supporting device. A tool joint embodying these shoulder characteristics is Serial described in my copending' application on v well tion I have explained the advantages of usinga supporting clamp in connection with an individual supporting shoulder over the use of wedge sli s or the use of two elevators alternately use as supporting members and elevators when but a single downwardly facing shoulder is provided at each breakjoint of the pi e.v p

I Inthat app 'cation I havestated'th at any suitably shouldered .type' of clamp. maybe 'to and from closed i e joint, filed'Qctober 22nd 1924,

umber 745,168,and in that applica-rfprovide 'latc means employed are of a nature to resist used as a supporting member for instance, an ordinary pipe elevator (with hoisting links detached) lends itself peculiarly well to the purpose. However, these elevators and, in fact, any device of sufficient size to handle the work must be of very considerable weight and it is naturally a matter of some difiiculty and a time-consuming operation to manipulate them. v

Therefore, it is among the objects of the present invention to provide a supporting clamp which may be manipulated with com parative ease and speed, the aggregate time and labor saved by its use representing a real factor in the ultimate cost and time consumed in drilling, and it is well understood that seconds saved at certain stages of drilling may mean the difference between a satisfactory or unsatisfactory hole. I

The hinged members have extension handles whereby the operator, without getting into an awkward position, may swing them position about the pipe, eing used for bodily-- the same handles shifting the device clear'of the pipe or into association therewith when the members are spread apart. Preferably, there are one or more rollers ,on the device so the operator may easily roll the clamp over the table.

The roller is preferably so arranged that it is clear ofthe table when the clamp is support ing the pipe, but when the members are clear of the pipe the handles may be lifted to move the roller onto the table, whereupon the clamps may be rolled (much after the man ner' of a wheel-barrow) about the table.

In order that the members may bereleasably locked about the pi e to eliminateall danger that they .be acc1 ently knocked out of pipe sup orting position Ipreferably ii means on the clamp. The

accidental release under operating conditions or under strains that are at any time imposed on the clamp.

In order that the latch may be easily released when occasion arises therefor, 1 provide means controllable from one of the handles whereby the operator may open the latch without taking his hand from said handle. Thus a single operator may, with comparative speed and ease, apply and disengage the clamp.

Other novel features and objects of the invention will be set forth in the following detailed description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,'in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly in broken away section of my improved clamp showing it applied to a drill pipe and in connection with a conventionally Y illustrated rotary table;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the clamp, one of the handles being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 2, showing in dotted lines, the supporting members spread apart;

Fig. 4 is and Fig. 5 is a fragmentaryview of Fig. 2, looking from the right thereof, and showing a referred form of latch.

a section on line 4- -4: of 2;

n Fig. 1 a usual rotary table is indicated at 10, and the upper end of a drill pipe at 11. In its broader sense, rotary table 10 may be considered a supporting platform through which pipe 11 extends. Supported on table 10 is my improved clamp A, which embodies two arcuate, complementary supporting members 12 and 13 connected by the vertical hinge pin 1& so they may be horizontally spread apart to clear or closed to embrace pipe 11. Extension handles 15. and 16, on members 12 and 13, respectively, provide means whereby the members may be easily swung open and closed without requiring the operator to closely approach pipe 11 or to assume an awkward position. The length of the handles also gives the operator advantage of considerable leverage.

\Vhen members 12 and 13 are closed, they need not fit snugly about the pipe as there is no necessity for the pipe to be tightly clamped between said members. In Fig. 1, I have shown a comparatively large amount of clearance between the defining walls of bore B and the peripheral face of pipe 11. It is only necessary that the upwardly facing support shoulders 17 on the members have ample bearing engagement with the downwardly facing support shoulder 18 on tool joint C, which joint is threadedly connected to the upper end of pipe 11. Joint C has a second downwardly facing shoulder 19, but the vertical spacing between shoulders 18 and 19.is such that a hoisting elevator D may be attached to the joint between the shoulders and engageshOulder 19 for the purpose of raising or lowering pipe 11. With the fjelamp in the position of Fig. 1, pipe 11 and the entire weight of the string below is supported on shoulders 17, so elevator D may be detached from joint G for picking up a new stand E for attachment to the string.

In order to hold members 12 and 13 in looked condition, I have provided a latch '23 on member 13. The latch is provided with spring 24 which tends at all times to urge the latch to'its closed position.

On the free swinging end of member 12 are two vertically spaced latch lugs 27. During the closing of the clamp, latch head 21 rides over the forwardly curved faces 27 of lugs 27 and seats behind said lugs to resist opening movement of the members. Spring 24 first yielding to allow the latch to thus ride over the lugs and then yieldingly holding the latch in looking association with the 3 In order that the latch may be easily re leased by the operator, I' prefer to extend a pull rod 28 from eye 29 on shank 20 to a bell crank actuating handle 30 pivoted on handle 16, the operation of the described latch release mechanism being obvious from the drawing.

In order that the clampmay be easily moved over table 10, I associate roller 31 with members 12 and 13. In the drawings, roller 31 is shown as carried by shaft 32 which is supported on member 13 by brackets 33. Preferably, the roller is, so arranged that it clears table 10 when the under face of the clamp bears on said table, and so it lies in the vertical plane which bisects the angle between handles when the latter are spread apart sufliciently to clear members 12 and 13 from pipe 11. This is for the reason that the handles are ordinarily spread when the clamp, as a whole, is moved about the table.

Assume now that stand E has been attached to pipe 11 and that elevator D is in position at the top of the newly added stand. The string is picked up by the elevator sufficiently to take the weight off clamp A. The operator grasps the clamp handles, includingrrelease handle 30 within his grasp to open the spring latch, spreads the handles apart to open the clamp, lifts up on the han dle to bring roller 31 into engagement with position. It then only remains to lower the string until the next pipe supporting shoulder comes to rest on shoulders 17.

From the above it will be evident that I have devised a simple, eflicient pipe supporting means that greatly 'minimizes the labor required and time consumed in lower ing and raising well pipe; but while I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, various changes in structure, design and arrangement may be made therein without departing from the scope of certain of the broader claims appended hereto.

Having described a preferred form of my invention, I claim:

1. In a device for suspending well pipe from rotary tables and the like, a plurality of arcuate members hinged together and adapted to embrace a pipe between them,

upwardly facing supporting surfaces on the members, handles on and rigidly projecting from the members whereby they are adapted to be hingedly moved, a latch de-' vice on one of the members and adapted tocooperate with the other of said members to hold said membersvlocked together, and

, latch control means on one of the handles 'nected with one of said members and adapted to cooperate with the other of said members to hold said members in locked condition, spring means adapted to hold said latch device in operative condition, and means on one of sand handles and operatively connected'to saidlatching device for moving it out of operative position against the action of said spring,

'3. In a device for suspending well pipe, the-combination of a lurality of holding members hinged together and ada ted to embrace the pipe between them, sai members having upwardly facing supporting surfaces ada ted to engage a downwardly facing shoul er on the pipe when said members embrace the pipe 'e shoulder, spaced handles on and rigidly projecting from the members whereby themembers may be swung to and from pipe embracing position or bodily shifted, a latch device on one of the members and adapted to cooperate with the other of said members to hold said members in locked condition, and means on, and movable with relation to one of the handles operable for moving the latch out of locking position. I

4. In a device for suspending well pipe, the combination of a plurality of holding heath said pipe members hinged together and adapted to embrace the pipe between them, said members having upwardly facing supporting surfaces adapted to engage a downwardly facing shoulder on the pipe when said members embrace the pipe beneath said pipe shoulder, handles on the members whereby the members are adapted to be swung to and from pipe embracing position and whereby the device is adapted to be shifted bodily over the table when the members are out of pipe embracing position, alatch device onone of the members adapted to cooperate with the other of said members to said members in .locked condition, means on one of the handles operable for moving the latch out of locking position, and a hold roller associated with one of the members i the combination'of a pair of pipe encircling members hingedly connected at one side handles rojecting from the other sides 0 the mem ers whereby they may be opened I and closed or lifted, said members having portingsurface, an a roller mounted on one member at the side of the hinge removed fromthe. handle, said roller being located above the planeof the bottom surfaces of the members so that'when those members are resting on a supporting surface the roller will not enga e the supporting surface, but that when t e handle sides of themembers are lifted and the members tipped said roller will engage the supporting surface.

6. In a device for suspending well pipe,

,the combination of a pair of pipe encirchng members hingedly connected at one side". handles roje'cting from the other sides of and closed or lifted, said members having bottom surfaces adapted to rest on a, supporting surface, and a roller mounted on one member at the side of the hinge removed from the handle, said rollerbeing mounted on said member to rotate in a plane that is central of the two members themem rsvwhereby they may be opened vand closed or lifted, said members having 7 bottom surfacesadapted to rest'on a sup porting surface, and a roller mounted on one member at the side of the hinge rei,

moved from the handle, c. said roller b ng bottom surfaces ada ted to rest an a'supthe members whereby they-may be opened at one side,

located above the plane of the bottom sursaid member to rotate in a plane that issube faces of the members so that when those stantially central of the two members when 10 members are resting on a supporting suropened.

face the roller will not engage the support- In witness that I claim the foregoing I ing surface, but that when the handle sides have hereunto subscribed my name this 30th of the members are lifted and the members day of September 1924, V tipped said roller will engage the supporting surface, said vroller being mounted on ELIHU-C. WILSON. 

